


The Wheels Fly Off The Bus

by SuperFriends (Hokum)



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Brotherly Love, Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 22:50:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8508598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hokum/pseuds/SuperFriends
Summary: “Richie,” he says sadly, “This is the fourth time this week. Please... Please will you just go back to bed.”Richie appears not to have heard him, he's still staring intently out the window and chewing on his fingernails. Seth has learnt the hard way not to touch Richie when he's like this so he tries calling out his name again, louder this time. 
Or
Seth struggles to cope with Richie's increasingly deteriorating mental health.





	

It’s three thirty a.m. when Seth is woken up by a loud noise coming from the living room. Rubbing his eyes tiredly he makes his way into through the apartment, making sure his footfalls are loud enough to announce his presence as he approaches, and finds Richie standing anxiously by the window. There's VHS tapes all over the floor and the VCR machine has been pulled apart. 

“Richie,” he says sadly, “This is the fourth time this week. Please... Please will you just go back to bed.” 

Richie appears not to have heard him, he's still staring intently out the window and chewing on his fingernails. Seth has learnt the hard way not to touch Richie when he's like this so he tries calling his name again, louder this time. 

"Richard." 

This time it works all though Richie jumps about three feet in the air and turns around wildly to face him. Seth holds his hands up in mock surrender but moves a little closer. The fingers on the hand that Richie had been chewing on were bitten all the way down to the quick and are bleeding. 

"It's late buddy, what are you doing up?" 

"I was just... Nothing," he mumbles, as he begins biting his fingernails again. 

Seth sighs tiredly, he wants to tell Richie to stop chewing on his stupid fingers but Richie's eyes keep shifting nervously over to where Seth is standing in front of him and back to the window. His main priority is to keep hold of his brothers attention before whatever's going on in his head manages to escalate. 

“Come on Richie, let me take you back to bed," Seth says. Richie visibly hesitates, prompting Seth to add, “Or we can stay out here if you want. How about we sit on the couch? I'll stay at one end if that makes you feel better.” 

Richie waits until Seth is settled on the couch, his big blue eyes tracking Seth's every move, before he sits at the opposite end. It's like looking at a coiled spring, the tension running throughout Richie looks liable to snap at any minute. Seth takes a few minutes to sort out in his head how he's going to approach this. His usual response is to get angry which he's been trying really hard not to do lately. All though it's better than his previous strategy which was to just brush everything off and tell Richie to sleep it off. 

“Is there... anyone else here right now?” Seth asks him gently. He hates this, hates having to ask his little brother if he's hallucinating crazy Mexican snake people. 

Richie shakes his head miserably, he's still got a good distance between himself and Seth. “No. I know it's just you and me and that we're in the apartment and everything, I just... I just thought I heard something outside.” 

Seth's not sure he believes him, he can read Richie like a book most of the time. He's pretty sure he heard Richie muttering to himself earlier on but he decides not to bring it up. Every time he'd tried to get Richie to explain what was happening it just sounded, quite frankly, nuts. How on earth Richie's brain had come up with all this he would never know. Seth didn't even know where to begin when Richie started telling him that a five hundred year old vampire snake woman was following him around and talking to him. He still can't make sense of any of this, it's like something had broke inside Richie's head and Seth didn't know how to fix it. 

"But you know there's nothing out there right? What could you have possibly heard anyway from all the way in here anyway?" 

Richie looks permanently exhausted most of the time, his skin is pale, there's dark circles under his eyes and he barely eats anything no matter how hard Seth tries. He must have made over a dozen trips to Kahuna Burger in the last week but Richie only picks at what used to be his favorite food. Weight is beginning to fall off him and he's becoming gaunt and frail. Once Seth had held Richie down and tried to force him to eat something. This proved to be distressing and horrific for both of them and it wasn't something that Seth would be trying again soon. He's not sleeping either; Seth can hear him wandering around his room until the early hours of the morning. 

“Her,” Richie whispers, suddenly looking terribly afraid. 

Seth sighs frustratedly, more from tiredness then actual anger. “Richie, how many times do we need to have this conversation? The door is locked, the windows are bolted. You’re safe here. Nobody is getting in here ok? Not some crazy snake lady or those... those Lord people or whatever. And more importantly; I'm not going to let anything happen to you.” 

There is an edge of impatience to his voice, he doesn’t mean it, he's not mad at Richie but he just doesn't know what to do anymore. They've had this exact conversation almost every night this week, with Richie in varying degrees of lucidity. So far Seth has ignored all of Richie's hallucinations, even when he's talking out loud to thin air. It's horrible to watch and Seth is ashamed to admit that sometimes he just leaves the room and let's Richie rant away to himself. It's not the right thing to do but he can't think of anything else, there's nothing in the "Big Brother" handbook that covers this. Playing into Richie's Mexican Dracula delusions just seems wrong. 

"I know... I just thought... maybe...," Richie trails off and goes back to looking out of the window. 

“I just don’t know what to do anymore buddy,” Seth says after a pause, voice thick with a mix of helplessness and resignation. 

“You don't have to do anything,” Richie says wildly as he fidgets in the chair . “I'm sorry for doing this. Again. You look tired, you should go back to bed. I'm... just going to stay up for a while.” 

Seth smiles at him sadly. Of course Richie would be more worried about Seth then he would be about himself. Sometimes Richie barely gets out of bed, though it’s not like he doesn't make the effort. Seth keeps finding things in weird places; a bowl of Lucky Charms in the fridge, a glass of juice in the bathroom cabinet. It's like Richie simply forgets what he's doing half way through a task. He tried bringing Richie food in bed but ended up finding bags of uneaten food in the wardrobe. It's got to the point where he sleeps on the floor in Richie's room most nights just to check his little brother doesn't do anything stupid. This morning had gotten of to a better start; he'd got Richie onto the couch under a blanket and put on an old Burt Reynolds film. Richie just needs rest; he'll be fine once he gets a good night sleep and some food inside him. Seth's been telling himself this for weeks as the alternative is to scary to comprehend. He can't put Richie in a hospital, it would break both of them. 

"How about you lay down and go to sleep and I'll stay awake", Seth say's gently, "That way if anything happens I can wake you up, OK?" 

"But... but Seth, listen,' Richie says frantically as he moves back to the window. 

"Richard," Seth says sternly, "There's nothing out there, nobody's going to hurt you. Just trust me ok?" 

"I know but I was sure...," Richie trails off looking confused and upset. 

"You want me to check? Make sure there's nothing outside?" 

Seth pulls the curtains back and makes a big show of looking out the window and confirming that there's no bloodsucking snake lady creeping around outside. This seems to satisfy Richie as he finally allows Seth to steer him back into his bedroom. The whole process of getting from the living room to Richie's bedroom has been exhausting. Seth isn't sure how much longer they can keep doing this but he can't send Richie away, not yet. Once he gets Richie settled Seth pulls the blankets right up to Richie's chin and tucks them tightly around him. He's doing this partly for comfort and partly because he doesn't want Richie to be able to get free so quickly again. 

"The guy that’s moved in across the street has got a dog, you want me to see if he'll let you pet it for a bit?" 

It sounds like something you would say to a child, not a grown man, but Richie loves dogs and maybe it could bring some sense of self back to his brother. 

"I don't want to go outside," Richie mumbles. 

Seth sighs heavily as he climbs in beside Richie. Maybe some people would think its weird sharing a bed with your adult brother but Seth doesn’t care. He likes that the pair of them are super close. Plus he doesn’t want to leave Richie on his own. 

"Richie would I ever let anything happen to you?" 

Richie is silent for a moment, evidently thinking the question over in his head. 

"Not on purpose." 

"Great. Thanks for that glowing recommendation." 

"It's ok, I get it. Nobody wants a crazy brother," Richie says. He sounds exhausted and Seth prays that this is the last time that they will be getting out of bed tonight. 

"You just need to get some sleep ok? Everything will be better tomorrow." 

Seth's not sure if he even believes this but it’s the best he can come up with. He props himself up on the pillows next to Richie and pulls the blankets up some more. Next he leans over and removes Richie's glasses and sets them on the nightstand. He strokes Richie's hair until he's sure his brother has fallen asleep. A great wave of tiredness suddenly hits him and it's barely five minutes before he drifts off into a dreamless sleep. 

Seth wakes up a few hours later to an empty bed and the bedroom door wide open. 

"Richie?" 

Nothing. There's no way Richie would have left the apartment on his own, he's barely left his bedroom for weeks. All though that’s not entirely true a nagging little voice tells him. Last month Uncle Eddie had found Richie in a disoriented state wandering along the highway in the middle of the night with no shoes on. Seth and Eddie had a huge row about it and they hadn't spoken since. Eddie had wanted to put Richie in a hospital that very day but Seth had flat out refused. As selfish as it was he just wasn't ready to be without his brother just yet. He made his way in the dark through the apartment, the living room is empty but thankfully the front door is still locked and bolted. As he goes to check the kitchen his foot almost skids out from underneath him as he steps on something wet. Turning the lights on he finds the source. Blood is all over the kitchen floor, big droplets of it leading across the hall towards the bathroom. Seth's breath catches in his throat. Richie wouldn't be so stupid would he? There's a bloody handprint on the bathroom doorknob which is locked when Seth tries to open it. 

"Richard?" He bangs his fist hard on the door.shoves his shoulder against the door, hard. 

If anything's happened to that stupid idiot. 

"RICHARD, OPEN THE DOOR YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Seth shoves the door hard with his shoulder. He can hear Richie crashing around in the bathroom which he takes as a good sign. Time is running out though and he needs to get in there fast. He shoves the door again and it gives a little. 

"Richard you better get away from the door because I'm about to kick it down." 

He steps back a few paces then runs at the door and kicks it as hard as he can. The door crashes open, bouncing off its hinges. What he finds inside is a scene of  
absolute insanity. Theres broken glass all over the floor, blood on what appears to be every surface and in the middle of it is Richie holding a knife in one hand and blood dripping from a huge bloody hole in the other hand. 

"Richard! What the fuck are you doing?!" 

"Seth just listen to me, I need to finish," Richie says as he raises the knife to his hand again and for the first time Seth truly sees that his little brother needs a lot more help then he can provide. Before he has time to do any more damage to himself, Seth charges at him. They end up grappling with each other as Seth tries to get the knife out of Richie's hand. 

"Give me that fucking knife you idiot!" 

"Seth let go!" 

"Why would you do this to yourself?" 

"I didn't want to... she told me too." 

"Well I'm telling you not to!" 

"Seth I have to... she told me to do it..." 

Richie has the advantage of being at least a foot taller than Seth but he's also out of his fucking mind so Seth manages to take Richie's legs out from underneath him with relative ease. The momentum sends them both crashing to the floor and Seth quickly turns and straddles Richie, effectively pinning him to the floor. There's still the problem of the knife that Richie's got clasped in his hand. 

"Give me the fucking knife!" 

"You don't understand... I'm supposed to-" 

"You're not supposed to do anything except GIVE ME THE FUCKING KNIFE!" 

Seth grabs hold of Richie's injured hand and squeezes hard, causing Richie to yell out in pain but he finally drops the knife. Seth lunges for it and throws it in the direction of the bathtub. This earns him a solid punch to the jaw. 

"Richard... just stop ok? Just stop. Please." 

Richie is still struggling hard against him so Seth grabs both his wrists and holds him down until he stops wriggling. They remain like that for a while, both panting with exhaustion, until Seth decides that Richie has calmed down enough. 

"I'm going to let you go ok? But you have to promise not go all Rambo and freak out again," Richie nods slowly and Seth rolls off him with a grunt and sits with his back against the bathtub. From this vantage point he can see that all the blood on the wall has been smeared into a weird looking eye shape. 

"I'm not crazy Seth," Richie says as he starts to pull himself up into a sitting position. 

"Ughhhh," Seth groans from the floor, he can't have this conversation whilst Richie's got a huge hole in his hand. 

"I need you to sit here ok? Just stay right there. I'm gonna get a towel for your hand." 

He finds a clean towel in the cupboard and tears it into long strips. Richie has retreated to the corner of the room and is watching him like a cornered animal. 

"Let me see your hand." 

Richie's lost the crazed look from his eyes, now he just seems tired and incredibly sad as he lets Seth clean the blood of his hand and bind it with the towel strips. Thankfully it's not gone all the way through as Seth initially thought and he can probably fix it up in the morning with some stitches. His main issue is stopping the bleeding. 

 

 

Half an hour later they've ended up huddled together on the floor under some large towels. They used to do this all the time with bed sheets when they were kids and pretend that they were fighting space aliens or being cowboys. Being anywhere else, even if it was pretend, was better than having to live an abusive alcoholic who answered any question with and open fist to the face. Maybe it's no wonder that both of them are pretty screwed up considering the environment they came from. 

"I'll come and visit you all the time, I promise. And Uncle Eddie will too. You just need bit of help that’s all. You probably won't even need to be in there that long. Then we can get back to normal." 

"But I don't want to be on my own." 

This more than anything breaks Seth's heart. He doesn’t want Richie to feel like he's just going to dump him somewhere and forget about him. He would never do that, anywhere that doesn’t do regular visitation is going to be completely out of the question. 

"You're not going to be on your own, I'll be with you every step of the way. You just need to be someplace safe where you can't hurt yourself. I can't watch you hurt yourself again like this buddy." 

He can tell Richie is wavering, but if he still refuses to go then Seth won't force him. This has to be Richie's choice. That doesn't mean that he's against using a bit of leverage to get the outcome he needs. Seth knows exactly which cards he needs to play. 

"Remember back when we were kids and dad was going to beat the shit out of me 'cause I broke the porch window? And you convinced him that it was you?" Richie nods. 

"Yeah, you pitched a baseball through it. Dumbass." 

Seth slaps him playfully on the arm for the dumbass remark. 

"He made you sleep outside in the woodshed but I snuck out to bring you a blanket and some leftovers. Remember? Well this is just like that. You might have to go away for a while but I'm always going to be with you. You protected me a lot when we were kids, more than you should have had too, so now it's my turn to protect you, even if it is from yourself." 

"I'm sorry Seth," Richie says misserably. 

"Hey, hey look at me ok? You've got nothing to be sorry about. This is just a little bump in the road. It's not like you're going to be shacked up with Nurse Ratched. We've got all that money from that last job, you'll be in some place nice I promise. And maybe when you're better and you come home we can get that dog you always wanted. Sound good?" 

Richie is silent for a very long time, so long that Seth thinks that he's lost the little bit of leverage he thought he had. Maybe he should have- 

"You promise that you'll come and visit?" 

"So you'll go?" 

"Yeah I'll go...but just for a little while," Richie says quietly. 

Relief spreads through Seth and he pulls Richie into a tight hug. 

"That’s right buddy, just for a little while," Seth says as he ruffles Richie's hair, "I won't leave you." 

They remain under the towel fort for a long time, just like when they were kids and needed a place to escape too. Richie has finally fallen asleep with his head lolling on Seth's chest. Time is getting on but he can't quite bring himself to wake his brother up just yet. He's going to need to get a hospital sorted quickly before Richie can change his mind. Uncle Eddie would be more than willing to stay with Richie for the day whilst Seth goes and visits a few places. The sun is already starting to bleed through the windows, casting an orange glow all around the room. However at this moment in time Seth just wants a few more minutes alone with his brother. The world can wait for five more minutes.


End file.
